Free Marked by the Alpha by Adaline Raine Page A

loud crack of a gunshot echoed through the woods. Mason! Without hesitation she changed direction and headed in the direction of the shot, running as fast as she had in her life. If Mason was hurt, she would kill every one of those hunters herself!
    As she got closer, though, she heard a loud, painful sounding whimper. It was not a sound that an alpha was capable of making, no matter how badly injured he might be. The sound of the whimper ing grew louder, and suddenly an unexpected scent caught her attention. It was the scent of a wolf, but not Mason… it was a female scent… one she knew. Portia!
    Dani slowed as she reached the edge of a small clearing, and silently peered through the darkness. In the center of the clearing lay a wounded wolf. Dani had never seen Portia in her wolf form before, but she was certain it was her. Three men, all dressed as hunters, stood about ten yards away, and they were walking carefully toward Portia. Fury filled Dani , along with something else she had never felt before… a deep, intense urge to protect her fallen friend. In her wolf form Dani did not stop to consider what she was feeling, the only thought that burned in her mind like liquid fire was the absolute need to defend an injured female of her pack.
    “Finish her off, Rufus,” one of the three said, and the hunter nearest to Portia started to raise his rifle. With a terrible, savage growl, Dani exploded from the edge of the clearing faster than she had known she was capable of moving. She leapt into the air almost ten feet from the hunter and sank her fangs in at the place where his neck met his shoulder, ripping out his throat before he hit the ground. One of the remaining hunters froze in shock, while the second tried to aim his rifle with shaking hands.
    He had time for only one shot, and he didn’t make it count. She felt the bullet graze her fur, and then she was on him. He lasted no longer than the first, and in seconds his body lay motionless on the ground. The last hunter managed to regain control of himself , and he turned and ran for his life… but he wasn’t even close to fast enough. She caught him before he had gone ten feet and finished him as quickly as she had the others.
    Consumed by rage, Dani was just about to dash into the woods to look for more hunters to kill, but then a new sound came from behind her. It was the sound of a woman in pain… a human sound, not a wolf sound. She turned quickly, and saw Portia lying on the ground, naked, in human form. Blood was streaming from a gunshot wound in her right shoulder. Dani ran up to her, but even in her wolf from she could tell that something was terribly wrong. Why had Portia shifted back, when she would heal just as fast in her wolf form ? A t least in that form her fur would keep her warm in the cold night air …
    As she got closer, she saw that the flesh around the wound was turning black. Something tugged at Dani’s mind, and she shifted back to human form to think more clearly. Back in human form, it hit her almost immediately. Silver-cored bullets! Portia couldn’t stay in wolf form because the silver was poisoning her, Dani realized quickly. She had to get Portia back to the house, and she had to get her there fast.
    There was no way she could possibly carry Portia while in wolf form, so she would have to run back this way. Fortunately Portia was a good deal smaller, and Dani was able to gently lift her and set the smaller woman over her shoulder. Then, calling on every bit of luck she hoped she possessed, she headed in what she thought was the direction of the house.
    The rough ground hurt her feet, and sticks and thorns slashed at her naked body as she moved through the forest as fast as she was able. That same liquid fire of need she had felt earlier still burned in her mind, though, and she barely noticed the pain. This female was a member of her pack, and she was in danger. At that moment Dani finally realized what it meant to be not just a